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Avoidance of civilian casualties increasingly affects the political calculus of legitimacy in armed conflict. "Collateral damage" is a problem that can be managed through the material production of precision, but it is also the case that precision is a problem managed through the cultural production of collateral damage. Bearing decisively on popular perceptions of ethical conduct in recourse to political violence, childhood is an important site of meaning-making in this process. In pop culture, news dispatches, and social media, children, as quintessential innocents, figure prominently where the dire human consequences of imprecision are depicted. Children thus affect the practical "precision" of even the most advanced weapons, perhaps precluding a strike for their presence, potentially coloring it with their corpses. But who count as children, how, when, where, and why are not at all settled questions. Drawing insights from what the 2015 film, Eye in the Sky , reveals about a key social technology of governance we have already internalized, I explore how childhood is itself a terrain of engagement in the (un)making of precision., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of sulphasalazine in reactive arthritis., Methods: Double blind placebo controlled trial of six months duration comparing sulphasalazine 2-3 g per day (n = 37) with matching placebo (n = 42) in adults with active reactive arthritis (age 19-57 years, median 34). Treatment response was evaluated once a month by changes in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), pain, peripheral arthritis, tender iliosacral joints, entesopathy, extra-articular manifestations, and working ability., Results: 15 patients in the sulphasalazine group and eight in the placebo group withdrew from the study prematurely. Adverse events, primarily gastrointestinal, were the main reason for withdrawal in the actively treated group. Intention-to-treat analyses showed significant improvements over time in both groups in ESR, pain, and number of swollen joints (P < 0.01). Number of days on sick leave decreased significantly in the sulphasalazine group only (P < 0.01). No significant differences between the two groups were present after six months. Among the patients completing the trial according to protocol, persistent complete remission had occurred within two months in five (23%) of the actively treated, but in no placebo treated patients (P = 0.013)., Conclusions: Sulphasalazine seemed to improve only the very short term outcome of reactive arthritis. The possible beneficial effect of the drug should also be weighed against the risk of adverse events. Although these were mainly mild, almost 25% of the patients in the actively treated group gave up treatment for this reason.

Six patients with reactive arthritis (ReA) were examined for gastrointestinal accumulation of Indium-111 labelled granulocytes. Abnormal scintigrams were found in three of six patients all of which showed early (less than 4 h) accumulation of indium-111 labelled granulocytes which may represent small intestinal inflammation. Our findings may indicate that the small intestine is involved in ReA, and that indium-111 granulocyte scintigraphy is a useful method for demonstrating inflammatory changes in the small intestine in reactive arthritis (ReA).

Cardiac involvement has been reported in mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). We describe a 16-year-old girl in whom pleuritis and pericarditis occurred as the initial clinical manifestations of MCTD. Although pleuritis and pericarditis form a common clinical entity in MCTD, it is rarely seen as an initial manifestation. If MCTD is suspected, the diagnosis can be made by the clinical findings and the occurrence of a high titre of antibody against ribonuclease-sensitive ribonucleoprotein (RNP). This report emphasizes the importance of screening for connective tissue disease in patients with pericarditis/pleuritis.

Potential behavioral and teratogenic effects of caffeine were studied in Charles River CD albino rats. Caffeine in distilled water was given by gavage to pregnant rats (dams) at doses of 5, 25, 50 or 75 mg/kg on Days 3-19 of gestation. Concurrent controls received distilled water gavage (10 ml/kg) on the same days. Dams were allowed to deliver normally. Physical and behavioral observations were made on dams during gestation and lactation and on F1 offspring through 9 weeks of age. Caffeine decreased body weights and food intake and increased water intake in gestating dams but these effects dissipated during lactation. Spontaneous locomotor activity (PAC) and open field (OF) were increased immediately after caffeine gavage but not before. Parturition was slightly delayed. With analyses of data based on individual pups the following effects were noted. Pre- and post-weaning offspring body weights were decreased in females at 50 and 75 mg/kg and in males at 75 mg/kg. Incisor eruption was delayed in females at 5, 50 and 75 mg/kg and in males at all doses. Auditory startle developed earlier in the 5 mg/kg dose group but was delayed at 75 mg/kg for males only. Eye opening was delayed in both sexes at 25, 50 and 75 mg/kg. In females, vaginal opening was delayed at 5, 25 and 75 mg/kg and 9-week ovary weights were increased at 75 mg/kg. In postweaning males, food intake was decreased and water intake was increased with increasing dose. In males, PAC was decreased at 75 mg/kg only on Day 12. At 7 weeks of age, step-down passive avoidance was decreased at 5 and 25 mg/kg but increased at 50 and 75 mg/kg, and at 8 weeks of age, shuttlebox active avoidance was decreased with increasing dose. Maternal and offspring behaviors were only weakly correlated. Correction for litter effect in developmental data yielded fewer significant results and only at 50 and 75 mg/kg. The issue of whether it is always appropriate to correct for "litter effect" is discussed.